Head of the nearly created Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy believes that the year 2019 will bring Ukrainians hope for a victorious end of the war in the east of the country.

"May the new year of the goodness of God give us hope for a victorious end of the war in the east of Ukraine and the return of the annexed Crimea, which means the advance of peace in our long-suffering Homeland. May the Lord protect us all! Happy New Year, dear Ukrainians!" he wrote on Twitter on January 1, 2019.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko congratulated Ukrainians on the New Year 2019, recalling that the struggle for the independence of the Ukrainian church lasted hundreds of years. But it has succeeded just recently.

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